Kids culinary camp a sizzling hit

Culinary camper McKenzie Marvel

1:36 p.m., July 19, 2005--A culinary day camp held last week in Vita Nova’s satellite kitchen in the Trabant University Center gave a group of fledgling chefs ages 9 to 13 a chance to expand their cooking skills and stretch their taste buds and imaginations in a series of dishes that showcased cooking prowess and creative flair.

Supervised by Debbie Ellingsworth, chef instructor in UD’s Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management (HRIM), the 10-member crew made items ranging from blueberry milkshakes to quesadillas to eggs Benedict, and concluded their five days of culinary adventures with a celebratory lunch of pizza and ice cream (both homemade, of course).

2d kids culinary camp offered Aug. 1-5

Another cooking camp will be offered from 9 a.m.-1 p.m., Monday-Friday, Aug. 1-5. It will take place again in the Vita Nova satellite kitchen on the second floor of the Trabant University Center, and will be taught by Ellingsworth.

Lessons again will be structured for youngsters 10-14, and basic skills in kitchen safety, food preparation, equipment operation and cooking techniques will be covered. Nutrition guidelines also will be taught, as will recipe-reading and measurement skills.

Space, which is limited to 10 participants, fills quickly, so prompt registration is recommended. The $135 tuition covers all supplies.

For more information, call (302) 831-6077.

In the week of kitchen duty that began each morning at 9 with meal preparation and ended four hours later with a group clean-up effort, the budding chefs also learned about nutrition, kitchen and food safety and new ways to make formerly hated foods unexpectedly tasty.

“I made the point of telling the group that the way something tastes all depends on the way it’s cooked,” Ellingsworth said, “and I had one participant who particularly appreciated this. She hated mushrooms but found to her surprise that she loved them when they’d been sautéed and used as filling in a spring roll.”

Chef Debbie Ellingsworth shows campers how to use kitchen equipment safely.

Ellingsworth said she experienced several happy surprises herself throughout the week. Originally intending to structure each day around recipes she’d chosen and tested ahead of time, she learned after the first day that the participants had ideas of their own.

“I didn’t want anyone to be bored, and I had a list of menu items planned, but over the years I’ve also learned to ask what participants want to make,” Ellingsworth said, “and this year that opened the floodgates.”

According to Ellingsworth, suggestions ran the gamut from cream puffs to eggs Benedict to steak--not things she would have expected from students their age--and she was also pleasantly surprised at the maturity of participants’ kitchen conduct and cooking skills.

Ellingsworth said that by encouraging participants’ innovation she was able to tailor her instruction specifically to the group, and she explained that one way she did this was repeating ingredients. “A lot of the teaching had to do with using repeated ingredients in different ways,” she said.

Campers Nikki Laws (left) and Blair Barba

Ellingsworth added that dividing students by skill sets also reinforced certain cooking objectives. She grouped participants by what she perceived as strengths and weaknesses so that they could learn from each other. “Peers are often more receptive to instruction from each other than from an adult,” she said, “so I tried to facilitate that sort of cooperation.”

Friday’s class ended on a high note as each participant carried away a bag of soft pretzel nuggets made from scratch and fresh from the oven, courtesy of a recipe from Ellingsworth.

Article by Becca Hutchinson
Photos by Sarah Simon, AS ‘06

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